Kincardine's Charles Mann awarded U.S. Congressional Gold Medal

By: Liz Dadson February 8, 2015 2006

Kincardine's Charles Mann awarded U.S. Congressional Gold Medal

More than 70 years after serving as members of the First Special Service Force in the Second World War, Charles Mann of Kincardine and his fellow Forcemen have been awarded the United States Congressional Gold Medal.

Mann and 13 other Canadians were among 42 surviving members of the joint American-Canadian special forces military unit called the “Devil's Brigade,” honoured Tuesday, Feb. 3, with the highest civilian honour the United States Congress can bestow. The ceremony was held in Emancipation Hall at the United States Capitol Visitor Centre in Washington, D.C.

Chosen to address the assembly on behalf of the Canadian members of the brigade, Mann said, “It is my sincere privilege to accept this prestigious award on behalf of the Canadian First Special Service Force Second World War veterans, their family members and the Force members who are no longer with us.”

He acknowledged the presence of both Canadian and American military personnel, noting “these are our historical modern Special Force members today; please give them all the support that you can.

“I must say I am most honoured and humbled to receive this award. I thank you all for allowing me to speak on behalf of the Force members present and the Forcemen who are no longer with us. May they rest in peace. Thank you.”

Mann received a standing ovation, following his remarks.

Prior to heading to Washington to accept the award, Mann said in an interview, that he was honoured to receive the medal, but surprised that it took so long. “We spent two-and-a-half years waiting for this Congressional medal. One of my buddies in Toronto is unable to attend the ceremony. There are a lot of veterans of the Force who won't be able to make it.”
Mann said he's pleased the regiment is being recognized for its achievements from 1942-44 and the cohesiveness of the Canadian-American unit during that time. “We're celebrating the fact that we were good at our job. I'm very honoured that the Force got the medal, and that a little of it rubbed off on me.”

The actual Congressional gold medal will sit in the Smithsonian Institute, said Mann, while each member of the Force will receive a replica medal.

“I'm one of the originals who signed up for the Force in 1942 and served until it was disbanded in 1944,” Mann said. “Some of us are getting up there in age. I'll be 93 this June, and I'm one of the younger kids.

“The First Special Service Force was one of the greatest outfits I ever served in. It never mattered whether you were a Canadian or an American – we were all brothers in arms – members of the Force. That is what connected us together and allowed us to persevere through some of the greatest tests one can withstand in war.”

When the Force was disbanded in France, Mann said the Canadians formed up in one area, and the Americans in a separate area. “We Canadians were put on trucks headed for Naples and then back to England. It was a very emotional time. We were crying when we left.”

Mann arrived in Britain in the spring of 1945 and remained as an instructor until he came home in 1946.

“I was always in action but never wounded,” he said. “I lost my parka once because it caught on fire.”

Following the war, Mann has served as director and president of the First Special Service Force Association, and is now a director of the Canadian Airborne Forces Association, a director of the Canadian Airborne Forces Museum (Petawawa), a director of the National Council of Veterans Association in Canada, director emeritus of the First Special Service Force Association, and was appointed Canadian military liaison contact for the First Special Service Force.

He is a life member of the Kincardine Legion, a member of the Royal Canadian Military Institute, and has belonged to the Lions Club, Masonic Lodge and Probus Club.

Members of the First Special Service Force were dubbed the “Black Devils" by the German soldiers because they operated mostly at night and behind enemy lines with blackened faces. Though small numerically, the Force never lost a battle, never failed to take an objective, and never gave up an objective once taken.

While the unit maintained about 1,800 men, many more soldiers rotated in and out of the unit due to heavy casualties. In all, more than 400 soldiers in the Force were killed and more than 2,200 wounded through the war. They were trained extensively in guerrilla tactics, mountain climbing and fighting, winter combat, hand-to-hand combat, night fighting, and they trained in the use of virtually every weapon in the U.S. and the German arsenals.

The Force's first combat mission was to take Monte la Difensa, a mountain in Italy that had held up the Allied advance for weeks. The German defenders had repelled several massive attacks in those weeks. The Force took the mountain in two hours, and held it without reinforcements for days after that, at a heavy cost, sustaining 77-per-cent casualties.
The unit fought in the January, 1944, amphibious landing at Anzio Beach; was the first into the City of Rome; and spearheaded the invasion of southern France.

Mann remembers clearly those battles.

"We broke through the German defence and captured that hill," he said. "We were high up in the mountains, and it was tough going but the work had to be done."

The Force later fought all the way to Rome, and captured that city on June 4, 1944, said Mann. "Then we liberated the south of France in August, 1944."

In September of 2013, Mann and Jack Callowhill of Stoney Creek, also a veteran of the First Special Service Force, flew to Italy to help make a documentary about the Second World War.

"We went back up into the mountains where we captured that hill," said Mann. "It was at la Difensa, near Cassino, Italy. It's hard to imagine what it was like back then; it was tough work but we did what we had to do.”

The men of the Devil’s Brigade join the likes of George Washington, Mother Teresa and Nelson Mandela, who have all been honoured with the Congressional Gold Medal.

The Canadians who attended Feb. 3's ceremony include: